Don't get all "Bambi" on me, now...
That's right. Said it before and I'll say it again - deer are rats on stilts. *sighs* Ok... I shouldn't totally blame it on the creatures. There aren't enough predators to keep them in check... As for the human predators, it's politically incorrect to hunt (is that why we're gaa-gaa over vampires? setting our inner hunters loose? You'll have to weigh in here laurelinofwotr) I guess I'm really mad at the deer ticks...
So my mega-sized, bull's-eye rash was definitely Lyme disease. I was feeling OK, though. No big deal, go on antibiotics, right? Eeenh!! Felt successively lousier as days went by. Crawling on hands and knees exhausted. Twenty million dollar question is whether it's the Lymes or RA? Lord love 'em - Lyme attacks the joints, too. I needed that? :s I've gone to see a rheumatologist... who really can't medicate me until he gets blood work (back to vampires), x-rays, and most of all, I'm off antibiotics so he can tell if that's what is helping (some forms of RA respond to antibiotics). For the past week I've just felt too crappy to want to sit in hospital for a day while I get tested. I know... I have to muster my resources *sighs again*
A word or two about hormones? We're hostage to them. The guys, too, but as a general rule, theirs are not in flux like ours are. Check out what happens when they do: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/my-brief-life-as-a-woman/ Can't remember what woman referred to herself as "a swamp"... awfully appropriate, that.
For those happy few, menopause isn't an issue - the decline of hormones is gentle enough or isn't disruptive. My sister is one of those. My surgery threw me into the opposite category :( Lying in the hospital, I felt like I'd burst into flames all of a sudden. The nurse assured me that hot flashes wouldn't be happening so soon, must be a reaction to surgical drugs. Eeenh!! Wrong. My doctor told me that's why they call it surgical menopause - no gentle decline. You've just fallen off the cliff!
I think for the majority of us, it can be a silent struggle - who wants to hear about it, or talk about it, after all? But the whole time, I'm thinking, "Why the hell didn't my mother warn me about this?" Oprah, bless her soul, had a program about it - maybe more than one, I'm not an afternoon TV kinda gal. It really helped, though, to know that I wasn't going crazy - my hormones were driving me there :p It's not an old lady thing. Peri-menopause can happen (and effect) women in their early thirties. Damn hormones...
My doctor was up to the challenge and helped me find a solution. Don't think you're fated to feel crappy - talk to your doctor if things are awry *hugs flist*
So my mega-sized, bull's-eye rash was definitely Lyme disease. I was feeling OK, though. No big deal, go on antibiotics, right? Eeenh!! Felt successively lousier as days went by. Crawling on hands and knees exhausted. Twenty million dollar question is whether it's the Lymes or RA? Lord love 'em - Lyme attacks the joints, too. I needed that? :s I've gone to see a rheumatologist... who really can't medicate me until he gets blood work (back to vampires), x-rays, and most of all, I'm off antibiotics so he can tell if that's what is helping (some forms of RA respond to antibiotics). For the past week I've just felt too crappy to want to sit in hospital for a day while I get tested. I know... I have to muster my resources *sighs again*
A word or two about hormones? We're hostage to them. The guys, too, but as a general rule, theirs are not in flux like ours are. Check out what happens when they do: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/my-brief-life-as-a-woman/ Can't remember what woman referred to herself as "a swamp"... awfully appropriate, that.
For those happy few, menopause isn't an issue - the decline of hormones is gentle enough or isn't disruptive. My sister is one of those. My surgery threw me into the opposite category :( Lying in the hospital, I felt like I'd burst into flames all of a sudden. The nurse assured me that hot flashes wouldn't be happening so soon, must be a reaction to surgical drugs. Eeenh!! Wrong. My doctor told me that's why they call it surgical menopause - no gentle decline. You've just fallen off the cliff!
I think for the majority of us, it can be a silent struggle - who wants to hear about it, or talk about it, after all? But the whole time, I'm thinking, "Why the hell didn't my mother warn me about this?" Oprah, bless her soul, had a program about it - maybe more than one, I'm not an afternoon TV kinda gal. It really helped, though, to know that I wasn't going crazy - my hormones were driving me there :p It's not an old lady thing. Peri-menopause can happen (and effect) women in their early thirties. Damn hormones...
My doctor was up to the challenge and helped me find a solution. Don't think you're fated to feel crappy - talk to your doctor if things are awry *hugs flist*